[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Project renew graveyard in Borki Poland

[Dorothy McGee]

Hello all,

I have just returned from Poland.  I visited my mother's birthplace, Borki, Poland.  There are several "Borkis" in  Poland. This former German village is located about 100km (62 miles) northwest of Warsaw along the southern shore of the Vistula River, between Gombin and Plock.

I was successful in finding the graveyard with many stones intact, some have fallen, especially those made of wood.  The villagers are very friendly and tried to remember the German families who lived there.  I met a female relative of the former German school teacher, Stanislaus Dahlmann. The elderly woman who now lives in the home my great uncle, Ferdinand Ratz, lived in, gave me a wedding picture she found when they replaced the thatched roof.

The graveyard has been neglected.  I would like to start a project to renew this graveyard by cutting the weeds and small scrub that has hidden the graves and erect those stones which have fallen.
The Lutheran church in Plock has the birth/death records of the German families and I have the contact information for the church. They are willing to work with us, but have limited resources. This is a very small congregation which has recently been established. They are working hard to preserve all information on past German communities in the area. 

The following is a list of the German family names from the village of Borki:

Dittmann
Zielke
Pretzlaw
Neitsch
Knop
Pansegrau
Kruger
Schabert
Ratz
Schwentke
Zander
Zittlau
Jantz
Dahlmann
Golnik
Wiese
Gotz
Tober
Kurzhals
Peter
Kurzhals
Golnik
Henke

I plan to return to Borki in the early spring of 2007 to cut down weeds and scrub.

If you have any suggestions for this project or are willing to help, please contact me.

Dorothy McGee
dtmcgee at rogers.com